New Day Dawns for Saatchi / Ad firm hires some fresh faces to turn it around

Julia Angwin, Chronicle Staff Writer

Published 4:00 am, Tuesday, March 12, 1996

For Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising in San Francisco, this could be a new beginning, or the end of an era.

After losing about half its business in the last month, the San Francisco outpost of the London-based agency has brought in a new management team to turn things around. But some former employees say the problems can't be fixed with just a few fresh faces.

"Someone should be playing 'Nearer My God to Thee,' on the office intercom," said one former employee, referring to the song played by the orchestra as the Titanic sank.

The cause of the agency's hard times is debated. Some say it was bad management. Others say it was lousy ads. Either way, the results are clear: Clients have been fleeing the agency in the past month.

Latest business videos

After eight years with Saatchi, Hewlett-Packard is withdrawing its printer/scanner account, which generates $40 million in annual ad spending. After 10 years with Saatchi, Kikkoman International is shopping for a new agency to spend $5 million promoting its soy sauce.

Those two accounts comprised about half the billings of the San Francisco office last year, when Saatchi was one of the city's largest 10 agencies.

Saatchi made up some of the loss by winning two new smaller accounts, a $3 million contract from a German software firm and a $20 million short-term project from HP.

The HP project ends when its new line of personal computers is launched in the spring. And HP has suggested it may eventually award the PC business to the agency that wins the printer account. Saatchi declined to compete for the printer account after HP put it up for review.

Still, Saatchi hopes the HP ads will give its new creative team a chance to strut its stuff.

"It's easy to say we're going to change the place," said new Creative Director Steve Silver. "The first time people will notice it will be with this spring PC launch."

Silver, who was lured from Hal Riney & Partners, is one of two hotshot creative directors hired to revitalize Saatchi. He is joined by Mike Mazza, who came from Goodby, Silverstein & Partners. Both are respected for their previous work, especially for their collaborative work for Lexuscars at Saatchi's sister agency, Team One Advertising in El Segundo.

"The people here wanted to see something new," said Julie Bauer, Saatchi's new director of client services, who came from Team One four months ago. "When these guys walked in the door, people said things are really going to change."

Silver, Mazza and Bauer are hoping together they can turn things around.

"This place was not a healthy animal, that's why it lost some business," Silver said. "There was a lot of animosity here for no good reason."

But some former employees say there were plenty of reasons for the animosity -- mostly having to do with management turmoil.

In the past five years, the San Francisco office has had four chief executives, each with his or her own style. And since Mary Doan, a former secretary who rose through the ranks, became CEO last year, five of the six senior managers have left the agency and its workforce has shrunk from 87 to 75.

Industry observers expect layoffs as a result of account losses, but Doan wouldn't comment on that subject.

She said high turnover is common in advertising firms, and has high hopes that her new management team will save the agency through great ads.

Doan said HP told her they were looking for a larger agency and that Kikkoman was looking for fresh creative perspective.

Former employees point out that HP put the account up for review after creative directors Rob Ingalls and David Moranville were transferred from it. Ingalls and Moranville won a number of creative awards in the past few years. When the duo left Saatchi to start their own firm last month, Kikkoman pulled its account.

But Saatchi & Saatchi is putting its faith in the new creative team.

"We thought we needed new people there," said Alan Bishop, CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi North America in New York. Bishop has been visiting the agency weekly for the past month and a half to help smooth the transition.

And creative directors Mazza and Silver say they're ready for the challenge.

"It's scary and it's very exhilarating," said Silver.

"It's almost like we're starting a new agency, but the infrastructure is already in place," Mazza said.

Latest from the SFGATE homepage:

Click below for the top news from around the Bay Area and beyond. Sign up for our newsletters to be the first to learn about breaking news and more. Go to 'Sign In' and 'Manage Profile' at the top of the page.